Murder At Windward Passage. Chapter Two
Without Prejudice
Delvene Radic, the receptionist at Silver Bay Police alerted Ray Gibe
( the on duty Police Officer , that day) of the discovery of a body at Bledisloe Creek. She knew Wayne Chesterville was away till Saturday on annual leave. A well earned break for Wayne as he was not only the Senior Police Officer of the whole of the Waysunday Islands and Windward Passage but a recently bereaved Husband.
Katie Chesterville, aged just 56, a year younger than Wayne, finally succumbed to her drawn out battle with stomach cancer and now rested on the side of the hill beside their infant son, Dean Joseph, who had also died of cancer, aged just 18 months, many years before. Wayne had a daughter, now fully grown, Jessica. Jess as she like to be called was married with twin boys. Jesse was from a former union of Wayne's and he was visiting with her, her husband Erik and the twins, Lars and Liam aged 8, their elderly Labrador dog, Marcus and an ancient grumpy cat, named Nick, on Shoal Island, a small Island connected to the Mainland by the longest wooden bridge in the Southern Hemisphere.
Delvene was tempted to pick up the phone and dial Wayne's number but stopped herself.
" Let him rest " She thought.
No one deserved it more than Wayne.
He had been pushing himself hard, ever since Katie's death, burying himself in work, cold cases and paperwork as if the very devil of evil sat on his shoulders and urged him on. Delvene saw His behaviour as a bit of a " Mea Culpa ", not that Wayne had anything to be sorry for.
He had been a good and devoted husband to Katie and a good father figure to both Jesse and Deano, as they nicknamed their infant Son.
Katie and Wayne had met at 14 and 13 in detention at Westport High and had remained devoted to each other ever since. Even now he felt her presence all around him in the old house overlooking Windward Passage. The breezes whispered her name as they rustled through the palm fronds, he lay a pillow beside him in their brass double bed, so he felt like she was still there. She had nicknamed the land Wayne's breezy block, as it was so windy at the top.
No matter how high the temperature in the sub tropics where Windward Passage was located Wayne was always guaranteed a breeze at the top of Mango Hill. Most of the year he kept all the windowns open to allow the fresh smelling sea air in. Only closing them when a tropical storm threatened. He then would stand on the verandah on the Lee side of the house and watch the lightning flashes across the water and feel the fresh air from the gusting winds across his bare feet.
Thinking of the fishermen, ( Wayne's Dad having been one, ) hurrying in to the shelter of the shore and jetty. Crab pots hoisted in a hurry. The smell of the storm assaulting their senses. Tasting it on tongue and lips, smelling it in starting to block sinuses and thinking of home, just home.
And their patient wives. They, who would be preparing something warm and nourishing for their man as they suckled a baby or quietened quarrelling kids. An ancient radio, yellowed with age playing Linda Rondstadts Blue Bayou, in the background.
Waiting with one ear cocked, waiting for any warning bells or sirens, just as a miners wife does, at
the top of the Beaconsfields mines far away in cold Tassie. After the cave in. After the great mining disaster of 2006. Katie's Sister, Sandra had been one of the wives of the miners.
The Beaconsfield gold mine collapsed on 25 April 2006 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia.
Delvene Radic, the receptionist at Silver Bay Police alerted Ray Gibe
( the on duty Police Officer , that day) of the discovery of a body at Bledisloe Creek. She knew Wayne Chesterville was away till Saturday on annual leave. A well earned break for Wayne as he was not only the Senior Police Officer of the whole of the Waysunday Islands and Windward Passage but a recently bereaved Husband.
Katie Chesterville, aged just 56, a year younger than Wayne, finally succumbed to her drawn out battle with stomach cancer and now rested on the side of the hill beside their infant son, Dean Joseph, who had also died of cancer, aged just 18 months, many years before. Wayne had a daughter, now fully grown, Jessica. Jess as she like to be called was married with twin boys. Jesse was from a former union of Wayne's and he was visiting with her, her husband Erik and the twins, Lars and Liam aged 8, their elderly Labrador dog, Marcus and an ancient grumpy cat, named Nick, on Shoal Island, a small Island connected to the Mainland by the longest wooden bridge in the Southern Hemisphere.
Delvene was tempted to pick up the phone and dial Wayne's number but stopped herself.
" Let him rest " She thought.
No one deserved it more than Wayne.
He had been pushing himself hard, ever since Katie's death, burying himself in work, cold cases and paperwork as if the very devil of evil sat on his shoulders and urged him on. Delvene saw His behaviour as a bit of a " Mea Culpa ", not that Wayne had anything to be sorry for.
He had been a good and devoted husband to Katie and a good father figure to both Jesse and Deano, as they nicknamed their infant Son.
Katie and Wayne had met at 14 and 13 in detention at Westport High and had remained devoted to each other ever since. Even now he felt her presence all around him in the old house overlooking Windward Passage. The breezes whispered her name as they rustled through the palm fronds, he lay a pillow beside him in their brass double bed, so he felt like she was still there. She had nicknamed the land Wayne's breezy block, as it was so windy at the top.
No matter how high the temperature in the sub tropics where Windward Passage was located Wayne was always guaranteed a breeze at the top of Mango Hill. Most of the year he kept all the windowns open to allow the fresh smelling sea air in. Only closing them when a tropical storm threatened. He then would stand on the verandah on the Lee side of the house and watch the lightning flashes across the water and feel the fresh air from the gusting winds across his bare feet.
Thinking of the fishermen, ( Wayne's Dad having been one, ) hurrying in to the shelter of the shore and jetty. Crab pots hoisted in a hurry. The smell of the storm assaulting their senses. Tasting it on tongue and lips, smelling it in starting to block sinuses and thinking of home, just home.
And their patient wives. They, who would be preparing something warm and nourishing for their man as they suckled a baby or quietened quarrelling kids. An ancient radio, yellowed with age playing Linda Rondstadts Blue Bayou, in the background.
Waiting with one ear cocked, waiting for any warning bells or sirens, just as a miners wife does, at
the top of the Beaconsfields mines far away in cold Tassie. After the cave in. After the great mining disaster of 2006. Katie's Sister, Sandra had been one of the wives of the miners.
The Beaconsfield gold mine collapsed on 25 April 2006 in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, Australia.
